Old Skool Gamers SoW Campaign

Enemy of My Enemy, but Friend of my other Enemy?

-- Sheldon POV Session 116 --

12

APR/13

It has been far too long. I get caught up in the doing, rather than the chronicling. Turning back the pages I see that we had not even reached Chillreaver when last I left off. I have spoken with the others, and there are written accounts of all that up to where we are now. Damakos has been keeping a relatively complete record, and Jalissa when she is with us is like some sort of hired scribe when it comes to detailing everything we encounter. Therefore, I will sum up very briefly the cogent points.

We continued through the iceberg and encountered Chillreaver, the white dragon exarch of Tiamat. Chillreaver was in possession of the seed of winter. How this came about, he / she / it never did reveal. The seed was on a pilar in the center of the room, the focus of some magic mirrors that gave it power to dominate us and force us to do Chillreavers will. Seeing how dangerous that was, I focused on eliminating that threat immediately. As combat opened, I downed a potion of invisibility and made my way to the pedestal. Through an amazing feat of skill, I disabled the mystical protections and lifted the goodie to deprive the beast of its weapon. I then made my way to a hidden exit and opened the door, hoping to draw Chillreavers attention to the “fleeing thief”. It did not work. Instead, it continued to attack my companions, making use of a set of runes that magically healed it. So I sabotaged them as well so that they would no longer work. Chillreaver was slain and the iceberg broke apart. During the escape, I lost the Seed of Winter into the depths of the ocean.

When we returned to Nephalis, everybody insisted we had the Seed, despite my very convincing and sincere denial of the fact and I urged them to make expeditions to the bottom of the ocean where the iceberg had been. We were also given bad news detailed elsewhere about the death of the PoPs leadership.We made our way back to Sayre where the vote to allow the Green Dawn collectively to have a vote on the council was defeated. Only Damakos’s mother convinced us to continue having anything to do with these people by giving us her vote and getting the others to name us as ambassadors. Our mission was to be to seek out the Stone Skinned King and convince him that it was not in his best interest to continue allowing Githyanki to have free passage through his realm and into ours. In return, we offered nothing though the council members insisted that we should offer the Seed of Winter despite my once again incredibly sincere and detailed accounts about how it surely now lies at the bottom of the ocean.

Off we went. The court of the stone-skin king was a shambles. He was under the mental influence of what we later learned to be the Green Dragon Exarch of Tiamat. While there, be met Branco Ironfell. Yes, the same bastard who screwed us over before. Nearly, he was ended several times. But he has a silver tongue and just enough enlightened self interest that it is believable that he should switch to our side of the conflict when confronted with the evidence of our competence. Further, he offered a way to repair our airship. Soul crystals not only fuel the flight of the ships, but can also cause it to repair itself! With a bribe like that, I’m willing to let him live out his life in a small cabin in the woods near Overlook. Further, he had information on a portal that would take us to Garithias Anvil – the Githyanki shipyard!

Anyway, even once we defeated the exarch, and freed the kings mind from magical influence, he insisted that we had the Seed of Winter or that we could go get it and bring it to him. This ridiculous price was the cost of him agreeing to be helpful. Like I would trust a nutcase like him with something that dangerous anyway! To hell with him says I. We returned home having only partially completing our mission. The stone skinned king would no longer let Githyanki use his realm as a staging point for invading our world, but not because he was our ally, but rather because he was upset with them being in alliance with his cousin who wished to usurp his throne.

When we arrived home, I arranged to have the airship repaired, and the council tried to claim it as their own for the use of PoP. I nearly cut throats right there. How Dare They claim the single most valuable prize we have ever taken without so much as a by-your-leave? Cooler heads than mine eventually demonstrated to them the insanity of their statements and they acknowledged our ownership, especially of resources captured prior to formation of PoP and not even of PoP business. I do have good relations with the Nephalese leaders on the council, and convinced him to research an alternative fuel source and control mechanism for the flying ships. I find I want one of these as our mobile home base more than I want a mansion in Sayre. But I cannot justify consuming the souls of others to power it, nor am I willing to be dependent on someone else to pilot it for us.

Once again, I was approached about the Seed of Winter which I do not have and asked to give it over to the Nephalese for study on condition that they would let no one know they had it, nor where they had gotten it. Finally, fed up with the entire situation I told them they could have what I didn’t have but they should figure out how to destroy it, rather than how to use it. Oddly, that seemed to make them happy and they’ve left me alone on the subject ever since.

This brings us nearly up to date. We took our newly renovated ship North to a tower near the location of the gate that should lead to the shipyards. We arranged to have massive amounts of explosives manufactured in Brindhol for transport via my magical chest directly to the shipyards when we arrive. The plan being that we will destroy that which we cannot steal, destroying the Githyanki ships and ship building equipment. We docked at the top of the tower, and there met with the captain and in a surprising circumstance, Megan Swiftblade and the FreeRiders.

I was efficient, stealthy, and spotted anyway by some undead who could apparently somehow sense my very life force, since I was at the time a lowly centipede, which should have not drawn undo attention. I retreated to provide the information I’d gathered so far, saving the Free Riders scout from falling off a cliff on the way back. Pathetic. There ensued an argument about splitting the two groups to assault the position I had scouted, and the other entrance I had not scouted simultaneously. No amount of convincing arguments nor logic could sway the Free Riders. It was almost like they were zealots on a holy quest that demanded they divest themselves of the unbelievers (us). We eventually let them pursue their idiotic path and when our own way.

My intel was sufficient that we very quickly and neatly dispatched the defenders in the fist two chambers, followed immediately by two Firbolgs guarding a horde of githyanki priests who follow the Lich Queen, rather than the new Emperor. They plead for our assistance, insisting that this “fane” was theirs by right, and the other githyanki were defiling it and attempting to capture it for their emperor. Damakos was all for killing them on the spot.

Myself, I listened to their story and then insinuated myself into Damakos’s thought stream. “I see twelve potential pilots there.” I said to him.

“Pilots I do not trust, but ones who can steal ships on our behalf none the less. We help them against their invaders now, insist they come help us steal ships after. Then when we’ve gotten what we need, give them a choice. Vacate the Prime Plane and return to their own or convert to one of several approved religions…”

“Pelor,” interjectected Yamis.

“…or die.” I continued.

Damakos smiled and agreed. We asked what we would find in the room beyond the doors, but the githyanki priests were of nearly no help, other than advice to avoid the areas directly surrounding any of the altars, as well as staying at least five feet away from the protective shell around the gateway. They wouldn’t say what would happen, just that it would not be pleasant. So off we go.